Page 10 - EW Magazine 5-2 FINAL

10 extraordinary women Volume 5 I ssue 2

MICHAEL: Absolutely! I think one of the most beautiful sounds is just hearing thousands of women singing unto the Lord… it’s truly beautiful. That’s why I find myself listening a lot.

HEIDI : I have to mention a recent call Michael received from a wonderful lady who had pre-ordered one of his CDs. During the conversation, she paid Michael and the entire EWomen lineup such a beautiful compliment regarding her experience at one of the events. She said, “During the conference, you and all of the speakers on stage hid your-selves behind the cross. It was such a blessing to be a part of what God was doing there.” I loved the way she summed it up by saying everyone “hid themselves behind the cross” because that is the ultimate goal.

JULIE: That’s right, Heidi… she described it beautifully! It is so amazing to see how God touches lives through our conferences. And that is our ultimate goal… to make Christ the focus and allow Him to use us as a vessel to reach other women. It all starts with the praise and worship, as it’s the first thing women experience when they attend an EW conference.

Today, Tim and I want to get to know you two better as a couple. Michael, tell us a little about your childhood and how you met Heidi.

MICHAEL: I grew up in Miami, Florida. My dad was a tele-vision guy who had his own show and was also the weather man. When I was around 10, he was fired from his job. He wasn’t having much luck finding another job, so he felt extremely unfulfilled. As a result, we ended up moving to Lafayette, Louisiana, because my mother had a brother who lived there. Just like that, we picked up our whole family and moved to Lafayette. That’s where I got involved in music. I began singing in my high school choir and eventually got in the show choir, which I must say I’m really thankful that no one will ever see those videos!

HEIDI : Michael was also a pretty good baseball player! His passion moved from baseball to music in high school when he was introduced to a Christian lady and her husband who were in charge of the music there.

MICHAEL: As much as I loved sports, especially baseball, I literally dropped them all once I got into music. I began pounding on the piano and one thing led to another. It was a miracle, but I actually graduated from high school and went on to the University of Southwest Louisiana as a vocal major. Once I was there, I started singing opera and tried taking piano lessons but failed miserably because they wanted me to play a certain way that I didn’t like. Somehow I made it through about three years of college, but that

whole time I never had a true relationship with Christ. I was living the wild life and partying a lot. With the exception of singing, my life didn’t have much direction, so I wasn’t fulfilled at all because I was living a sinful life.

HEIDI : Although Michael wasn’t living for God at that time, he was at least introduced to the Gospel during his high school years. He wasn’t following the Lord then, but was around some Christian people who had a positive influence on his life and set a path for him to know where to run when he eventually hit rock bottom.

MICHAEL: Yes, that is true. In high school, we finally started going to some Baptist churches, but Jesus was just more of a name to me at that time… I had not yet made Him the Lord of my life. As a result, I went off to college and started living a life of sexual immorality, drugs and alcohol— just totally diving into being rebellious. It wasn’t until I did a drug that really scared me that I realized I needed a fresh start, so I moved from Lafayette to Miami because my sister lived there. However, as everyone knows, that’s not the greatest place to move when you’re trying to remove the temptation of drugs.

When I moved in with my sister, my life spun out of control for two years. I was going to clubs and bars almost every night and drinking heavily—I even managed a bar. My life was totally absorbed in that atmosphere and it got really serious. In 1988, I nearly overdosed on cocaine. I won’t get into all the nasty, horrible stuff, but it scared me so badly that I ran to a church. I had never been to this church before and sat in the back row. The pastor was taking ques-tions from the congregation, and I literally spoke up and ask him something along the lines of: “How do you get out of a lifestyle of hanging around people who are negative influ-ences and encourage you to make bad decisions?” I ended up accepting Christ as my personal Savior at that church. Although that’s where my life began to change, I never went back and ended up joining another church and getting involved in their choir.

HEIDI : Although Michael accepted Christ that day, he still wasn’t completely ready to give his life to Him. At the time, he wasn’t totally willing to give up his lifestyle, which was the biggest reason he didn’t go back to that church. However, God began working in Michael’s life and said, “You committed your life to Me and I’m going to hold you to it.”

MICHAEL: Yes, I remember the church asking me to quit my job as a bartender and me telling them I couldn’t because it was the only way I could make a living. However, God was at work. Although I had never been fired from any job before, a couple of months later I was let go from my job as a bartender for no apparent reason. I felt like that